For immediate release
December 19, 2012
Backgrounder
Ottawa — The Government of Canada is providing Canadians with more access to government information than ever before according to an annual report released today that tracks statistics on the Government's Access to Information and Privacy program.
The Government completed 43,664 access to information requests in 2011–12, nearly double that of a decade ago, according to the Info Source: Statistical Reporting Bulletin. In that time, the number of institutions falling under the ATIP purview has expanded significantly while the complexity of each request has increased substantially due to evolving digital technology.
"Technology has revolutionized access to information. It is not uncommon for a request to encompass 20,000 pages of government information and half a dozen departments," said the Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board. "Our ability to keep abreast of these rapid-fire changes and improve our response times reflects our Government's commitment to Canadians' right to access."
In the past year, the Government has introduced a pilot project to receive ATIP requests and payments online, and has made the online posting of summaries of completed ATIP requests mandatory. By sharing this information, processing time and costs can be reduced.
While technology is enhancing Canadians' ability to access information, the Government has also taken major strides to expand the purview of available information. Under the 2007 Federal Accountability Act, the ATIP program was extended to 250 institutions and Crown corporations. The Open Government initiative has made some 273,000 government datasets publicly available on the Open Data Portal.
"Our Government is the most transparent government in Canadian history," said Minister Clement. "There has never been a time when Canadians have had as much access to government information."
The Government's efforts have been recognized by the Office of the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner has noted the "measurable improvement across the system", pointing to a significant reduction in backlogged requests and a 58% drop in complaints in 2011–12.
According to Info Source, between 2002–03 and 2006–07 the total number of requests increased by 27% and of these, the number of requests completed within 30 days dropped dramatically from 69% to 57.8%. In contrast, since 2006–07, the number of requests has jumped by nearly 50% but the number of requests completed within 30 days has remained relatively steady at 55.3%.
The Government of Canada continues to invest in the robustness of the ATIP system, increasing spending by $15 million (34%) over the past five years. In addition to training ATIP professionals, the Government is expanding the statistical information collected by the program.
For the first time, this year's Info Source Bulletin contains new data related to the number of pages processed and disclosed, as well as information on departmental consultations and extensions. These were collected to understand and improve the functioning of the ATIP program across government.
The annual Info Source: Statistical Reporting Bulletin is available on the Treasury Board Secretariat website.
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The Access to Information Act (ATIA) has been an important method for obtaining access to information held by the Government of Canada for 30 years.
The Info Source: Statistical Reporting Bulletin is an annual compilation of statistical information about the administration of the Access to Information and Privacy program. The bulletin also provides cumulative statistics about access to information and privacy requests since 1983.
This year's bulletin contains additional information that is being collected and reported on for the first time. This information includes the number of pages processed and disclosed, and statistics regarding consultations and extensions.
Over the past 10 years, the number of access to information requests received and completed has nearly doubled.
The time limit for completion of access to information requests is normally 30 days, but extensions may be granted if more time is needed. Over the last decade, more than 75% of access to information requests were consistently completed within 60 days each year. This increase from 30 to 60 days is due to the increased complexity of requests and an increase in the volume of records processed.
Initially, there was a steep decline in the number of requests completed within 30 days—from 69% in 2002–03 to 57.8% in 2006–07 (compared to a 27% increase in the number of requests). However, while requests have jumped dramatically since then (by 48%), the number of requests completed within 30 days has held steady, dropping slightly from 57.8% to 55.3%.
The number of requests taking longer than 120 days to complete has remained stable. Access to information legislation provides for extensions, even beyond 120 days.
The number of exemptions and exclusions has risen over the past decade in line with the number of completed requests.
